Flint mother of five sets Nicaragua ultramarathon record during family mission trip

FLINT, MI -- A 35-year-old mother of five from Flint took
advantage of a rare opportunity while on a mission trip to Nicaragua in
February to win a grueling ultramarathon and set a new record for women
runners.

After months of training, Vanessa DeSota competed in the
Fuego y Agua 50K ultramarathon on the Island of Ometepe in Nicaragua. Competing
against 18 other runners, some of them professional athletes, in a race where
about 50 percent of the participants don't finish, Vanessa DeSota set the pace.

Her official time of seven hours, 25 minutes and 25 seconds
beat the previous women's record by almost 25 minutes and was more than an hour
better than the second-place finisher.

The DeSota family had already planned a four-week trip to
Nicaragua with a few friends to help small villages with feeding programs as
well as local churches with a variety of things. When Ethan DeSota, family
pastor at Damascus Road church in Flint, found the Fuego y Agua races, the
family extended its trip an extra week.

Ethan DeSota said he could see taking care of a family with
five kids wasn't an easy job for his wife, Vanessa. With him away from home
with his pastoral duties, Vanessa DeSota was the one who usually cleaned the
house or cooked the meals.

Last year, Ethan DeSota and the couple's five kids --
Shalom, Samuel, Elianna, Joel and Rhea -- wanted to give their wife and mother
a gift for her birthday that money couldn't buy.

"Vanessa has given a lot over the years, she is a hard
worker and not a complainer and has done a great job of helping raise our
kids," Ethan DeSota, 38, said. "The kids are getting older now and
can help clean the house or be helpful, so we got together for her birthday and
gave her the gift of training and consistent running.

"In another life, she could be an incredible runner and
she has done some training and workouts as much as a mother of five can."

Having run since fifth grade, Vanessa DeSota said she has
been running on and off for much of her adult life. Nine years ago, she ran in
her first Crim 10-mile race and three years ago, she finished her first
marathon.

The time spent preparing for the race in Nicaragua was a
rare treat, she said.

"My husband would help me from his research, with what
I should eat and how to heal from injuries and he would make time for me to get
out. It is crazy to feel like I've been spoiled for all kinds of time
here," she said.

View full sizeVanessa DeSota, 35, of Flint, stretches outside her home in Flint. DeSota ran in the Fuego y Agua 50K ultra marathon in February of this year in Nicaragua. DeSota had a finishing time of 7 hours, 25 minutes and 25 seconds, setting a new women's record in the process. As an award, she was given a hand painted mask and a medal.Lauren Justice | MLive.com

"My goal was to come within an hour of the previous
record and there were times when you feel like you are going along inch by
inch, so it was quite a shock to finish first and break the record,"
DeSota said. "I have loved to run, for some strange reason, all my life
and I would do it when I could sneak a moment because it was a quiet therapy
for me."

The 50K ultramarathon is a little longer than the
traditional 26.2-mile marathon, at around 31 miles. However, the Fuego y Agua
50K isn't just on a road, it's on dirt trails, beaches and goes up and down the
Volcán Maderas, a dormant volcano that rises about 4,500 feet above sea level.

"I tripped a hundred times and face-planted about 10
times," she said. "The first 20 miles were considered flat, but even
that was hilly, especially being from Michigan. When we got out on the beach a
couple times, I kicked my shoes off and ran across the water.

"The mountain, of course, was intense. It was straight
up and over, no switchbacks. But the top of the mountain was very cool and
there was a cloud that hovered over the mountain all the time, and it was moist
and wet like rain forest conditions."

The mission trip gave the DeSota family great perspective on
what they have in their lives as well as how it feels to help others. Ethan
DeSota said after returning, his kids talked about spending part of their lives
working overseas and helping more communities and families.

Vanessa DeSota's run also gave the DeSota family a great
bonding moment. From seeing his wife pushing through as she was about to begin
the last third of the race to watching her cross the finish line, Ethan was
beyond elated for Vanessa.

"At the 21-mile mark, I had been there a long time and
seen the first 17 guys come through and I heard them announce the first woman
was coming up, and to see her and her bright-green shirt, it threw me for a
loop," Ethan said. "I was screaming that this girl had five kids and
I told her she was in first, but she didn't believe me.

"The last 10 miles were all mountain climbing and took
about four hours, so we stood at the end of the race and had to wonder if she
could come. When she came down the last mountain path and we knew she would
make it, it was a crazy moment for us as a family."

Contact Josh at
jgordon6@mlive.com or 810-247-7928 and follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKGordon.